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Son Goku
Son Goku (孫悟空 Son Gokū?) is the cheerful "Monkey King" who uses a staff, known as the Nyoi-Bo, as his primary weapon. There is no explanation given in the anime as to the origin of Goku's weapon; in the manga, it is revealed that the Nyoi-bo was sealed in a canister in the temple, which he and Gojyo shattered whilst goofing off. He is the Seiten Taisei, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and whose true self and powers are released when his diadem is removed. As the Seiten Taisei he is very destructive and cruel, and nearly invincible. He's even able to take in the Earth's energy and regenerate because he was spawned from the sheer energy of the earth itself. During Saiyuki Gaiden, Goku was made a ward of Konzen and befriends both Tenpou and Kenren. When his diadem was removed, Goku killed many celestial beings in his craze. Konzen, Tenpou, and Kenren work to protect Goku, but all four became banished from Heaven. Goku was locked in cage high in the mountains and lost his memories. Goku is found by Sanzo and freed from his imprisonment, and Sanzo becomes something like a foster father to Goku. Goku accompanies Sanzo on his mission to track down Hakkai, and helps to prevent Hakkai from killing himself, and Hakkai later becomes his teacher. Goku joins Sanzo, Hakkai, and Gojyo to stop the resurrection of Gyumaoh, during which he discovered that he was Seiten Taisei, having previously been aware of it. Goku is voiced by Sōichirō Hoshi in Japanese, with the exception of when he was voiced by Kōsuke Okano in the first OVA series. He is voiced in English by Greg Ayres in the original series and Requiem, while Yuri Lowenthal voiced him in Reload and Gunlock. Personality Goku is almost always cheerful, and is the group's unofficial mascot. He can make anyone - even Sanzo at some points - smile or laugh when something bad happens. A running gag is that Goku only thinks about food, and so far, this has been proven true most of the time. His stating a simple cry of "I'm hungry!" has led this to become almost like a catchphrase, and most people - Gojyo and Sanzo in particular - have lashed out (usually in a humorous way) for Goku worrying constantly about food. Aside from being cheerful and almost always hungry, Goku is the "Monkey King" of many Chinese and Japanese myths, and is always up for a good prank or joke. He also tries to be helpful, but because of his prankster disposition, he usually gets himself and others into trouble instead of actually helping. He is very ashamed by this, especially when he causes Sanzo trouble without really meaning to, and for the most part he tries his best to stay on task. Being the "Monkey King" of legend, however, staying on task is not one of his strong points. When it comes to others, Goku is more friendly to people than his traveling companions. He always greets people that he likes - or gives him food - with a smile, and generally likes any type of kindhearted person. He has befriended many creatures over the series, yokai and people alike. He will, however, fight someone he generally dislikes or has done some wrongdoing no matter how big or small. He can be compared to many of the 'hero' stereotypical characters seen in anime, but he has stated that he is fighting for his right to live, and his alone. He has also shown that he will fight anyone trying to get in his or his group's way. He likes fighting, displaying enjoyment comparable to a child playing a game. Appearance Despite his chronological age, Goku has the physical appearance of a young teenage boy year-old standing at 5 ft 4 in (162 cm) and weighing 112 lbs (51 kg). He has long brown hair which was cut by Sanzo or the monks and striking gold eyes. Around his head is his gold diadem. Background Goku is a being with the power to equal Heaven. In fact, he is even considered a god or Sage by Ukuko Sanzo and the Kanzeon Bosatsu. He is called Seiten Taisei, "Great Sage Equal to Heaven", and is regarded as a symbol of chaos and destruction, with "golden eyes of misfortune". At one time, he had resided in Heaven. It is shown, in Saiyuki Gaiden, that Goku befriended War Prince Nataku, but it was a strained relationship due to Nataku's duties, and his father not wanting his son to befriend a heretical being. It is not known at this time how long he stayed in Heaven, but because Goku committed crimes, such as killing thousands of soldiers in the heavenly army and then revolting against heaven with Konzen, Tenpou and Kenren. He was banished and ultimately imprisoned on the summit of Mt. Gogyou. He stayed there for 500 years with no memory of how he got there; the gods took his memory of everyone he knew (including Nataku and Konzen) and "sealed it away in Heaven". In an act of pity, the Merciful Goddess Kanzeon Bosatsu left him with the memory of the name Goku, which was a nickname he had recieved from Konzen. After his imprisonment, Goku's life became uneventful and lonely in his prison cell. Longing for freedom and the company of others, Goku became withdrawn, and ultimately depressed. Finally, after years of waiting, someone reached the summit and stood by his cell. Asking "why are you calling me?", Goku met Priest Genjyo Sanzo for the first time. After a confused conversation on Goku's part, Sanzo freed Goku and together, they made their way off the mountain. Sanzo wanted nothing to do with the young boy, even telling him to go away, but Goku told him that he wouldn't know where to go in the first place. After Goku tells Sanzo that he was probably always calling out to someone with his heart, Sanzo allowed Goku to follow him. From there, he stayed in the temple in Chang'an until Sanzo brought him along to arrest Cho Gonou (Cho Hakkai) for the crime of killing 1000 yokai. It is also revealed that Goku is not actually a youkai, but a creature that was birthed by the Earth itself. True Form In four instances in the series, Goku's diadem - which is his power limiter - has been removed, causing him to revert to his true form (Seiten Taisei or Great Sage Equaling Heaven). He's done it willingly only twice. The first time Goku reverted to his true form, the diadem was broken by Goku's emotional grief and anger when Sanzo was near-fatally wounded. The last and most current time his power limiter has been removed was when he was wounded and on the verge of death; with Hakkai failing to heal him in time, both he and Gojyo decide to remove his diadem, thinking that Goku could possibly recover in his true form. When Goku is in his true form, his hair becomes noticeably longer (about waist length), his ears become pointed, his eyes become slitted, his nails turn into claws, and his teeth become fangs. Goku in his true form is quite possibly the most dangerous opponent the main characters have faced in the series. While normally fighting seems like a game to him, in his true form he enjoys fighting in a bloodthirsty, sadistic sense and enjoys inflicting pain on others; even going so far as beating his enemies when they can't fight back. His speed and attack power also increase dramatically; he can move so fast that often others can't even see him and his strength increases so much that he's able to easily inflict near fatal wounds on Gojyo and Hakkai with a few blows, and also once bent Gojyo's shakoju just by holding it in his hand. He's also far more durable in this form, shrugging off nearly every attack he's ever hit with. If something actually can hurt him, he use the energy of the earth to heal himself, which is what happened after Hakkai and Gojyo removed his diadem in a last effort to save him. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, but then Goku jumped onto a nearby roof in his true form and used the energy of the earth heal himself and during the battle to restore Goku back to normal, Seiten Taisei Son Goku controlled the energy of weather and nature to fight Hakkai and Gojyo. This shows that his power is comparable to that of a god, making Goku immortal. After Goku's diadem is removed/broken, Goku loses all sanity when transforming into the Great Sage. This transformation causes him to become bloodthirsty and sadistic. Perhaps the biggest characteristic of his true form is that Goku can not differentiate friend from foe; causing him to attack Sanzo, Gojyo and Hakkai as fiercely as he does his enemies. When the Seiten Taisei is released, Goku experiences a sort of 'flashback' often seeing a person whom looks familiar but whom he can't remember. This is actually Konzen Douji, Genjyo Sanzo's former incarnation, the god who looked after Goku when he was younger. Even though Goku's memories were sealed away 500 years ago, it is possible that turning into his true form frequently causes some stronger memories to return to him for an instant, or that the Seiten Taisei's power is causing the seal to fade. However, no information in the story so far supports this. Son Goku in Saiyuki Burial got his diadem broken due to his emotions welling up badly. Luckily Sanzo got to control him when he knew who and what he was fighting. Incarceration When his diadem was removed, Goku killed many celestial beings in his craze. Konzen, Tenpou, and Kenren work to protect Goku, but all four are banished from Heaven. Goku was locked in cage high in the mountains and lost his memories. This seems to also be the reason for his appetite as after not eating a bite for 500 years Goku's body seems to have tried to make up for lost time by consuming food alot faster, Sanzo mentions this in one of the earlier episodes of the first series (this supported by the fact that in the Saiyuki Gaiden series, he's never seen complaining about food). His release from prison was a gradual process that spanned the first part of Sanzo's life, Goku began to call for help and only Sanzo could hear him, at first Sanzo ignored him but, as Sanzo himself mentions, the noise is annoying him so he came and found him, asking him what he wanted. Goku immediately became attached to Sanzo which spanned two lifetimes for the blonde male, at first it was as Konzen and then as Sanzo. This is the same for all of the Saiyuki party as they all have ties in their previous lives, though only Goku has the memories of it, even then they are fleeting, like a face or a voice in a dream. Weapon Goku wields a staff called the "Nyoi Bo", which is a clear reference to Sun Wukon's staff in Journey to the West. Aside from practical uses, he can cause it grow in length, and in some instances used it's lengthening powers to impale enemies with out. At times he can also make the Nyoi Bo seperate (connected by chains at the splits) into a sectioned staff; he usually uses this form of his staff to hack away at things, like plant roots in a couple cases. Usually, however, he just uses it to fight up close, and often he doesn't even use it and just fights with his bare hands. Trivia *"Bakazaru", "foolish monkey" or "idiot monkey", is Goku's most common nickname acknowledging he is the Monkey King in this journey. Gojyo also sometimes calls him just "saru" meaning monkey. *Goku can't eat wasabi. *Hakkai's ghost stories are one thing that can scare Goku in an instant. *Soichiro Hoshi is Goku's voice actor in Japanese. His original English voice actor was Greg Ayres, followed in Reload and Reload Gunlock by Jimmy Benedict. *He was born on April 5th, and is over 500+. *His blood type is O. Category:Main Characters Category:Characters